A 35-year-old man has been arrested by the police for allegedly burying his newborn baby daughter alive because he had wanted a male child.

On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, the Police disclosed that the part-time taxi driver is suspected of taking the baby from her mother not long after she was born on Saturday, March 25, 2017.

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AFP reports that the little girl was saved by local villagers who spotted her feet sticking out of a shallow sand pit on a farmland.

The Police in the Jajpur district of the eastern state of Odisha, India, were the shocking incident took place, reportedly the suspect, Ramesh Chandra, for attempted manslaughter.

“They were unable to explain the whereabouts of the child after we scanned the locality for expectant mothers,” Investigating officer Jyoti Prakash Pande told AFP.

The investigating officer revealed that confessed to burying the baby during questioning by the police, claiming that he was too poor to raise a daughter.

AFP reports that the couple already shares two daughters and a son, after aborting two earlier pregnancies.

The life of the baby who has been named Dharitri by staff at the hospital where she is under observation hangs in the balance as her fate remains unsure.

A video shows a villager gently removing sand with his bare hands before pulling out the infant wrapped in a blue piece of cloth.

The baby suddenly lets out a wail which leaves the crowd that had gathered at the scene, jubilant as they try to arrange for an ambulance.

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According to reports, most Indian parents are known to avoid having too many daughters in a bid to avoid the burden of huge dowries frequently required from them while their sons are only expected to support and care for them at old age.

A 2011 study in the British medical journal The Lancet found that up to 12 million girls had been aborted in the last three decades in India.